Kate Rubins joined the 47 million people who have voted in the U.S. election so far on Thursday when she cast her ballot from 254 miles above the surface of the Earth.
Rubins is the only American currently in space, working alongside Russian astronauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov at the International Space Station. Seeing as she isn't due to return to the ol' blue marble before April 2021, she chose to cast her vote from orbit, which has been an option for U.S. astronauts since 1997.
Rubins previously voted in the 2016 election from the space station as well, listing her address at the time as "low-Earth orbit." As she explained to The Associated Press, "I think it's really important for everybody to vote. If we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground, too."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘National dynamics will likely be the tipping point’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Two men accused of plotting LGBTQ+ attacksSpeed Read The men were arrested alongside an unidentified minor
-
Israel arrests ex-IDF legal chief over abuse video leakSpeed Read Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from her post last week
-
Dinosaurs were thriving before asteroid, study findsSpeed Read The dinosaurs would not have gone extinct if not for the asteroid
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
